Fade Away
by BunniesOfDoom
Summary: You don't just forget nearly losing your best friend. Mayuri is haunted. Post-movie.
**I actually am accomplishing things over break! I managed to get some studying done today and I finished my first multi-chapter fic!**

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Mayuri doesn't really remember much of what happened. She knows that Kurisu or Okabe could tell her what happened, but neither of them seem eager to talk. Kurisu looks so haunted when she brings up the subject that Mayuri immediately lets the subject drop. Mayuri can only remember vague details of what happened, but she knows that it involved time travel in some way. She just wishes she could remember more, then she could help Okabe and Kurisu.

And then suddenly, she doesn't. Her dreams about what happened are vague and confusing, but the she feels the emotions from them clearly. She dreams of a world in which everything is normal, but no one remembers Okabe. It's lonely and confusing and terrifying; she wanders around trying to find some sign of him, some mark of his existence, but there's nothing. She wakes up gasping, trying to shake off the terrifying sense of being alone without her best friend there. After all, Okabe seems relatively fine, so she probably doesn't need to bother him with this.

It's difficult to pretend that everything is fine, though. Okabe laughs maniacally, makes bad jokes, and devises new experiments, but Mayuri can't help but feel he's going to disappear at any second. He'll disappear and she'll be alone, without her best friend to tell bad jokes to her and encourage her. Mayuri can't think of anything more terrible than Okarin being gone.

Still, she manages to keep everything together until later in the week, when she's at the lab. Apparently, she fell asleep on the couch at one point, because when she opens her eyes, it's late, and the others have left. Okabe is standing next to her, looking worried. "Mayuri?" he asks, concerned. "Is everything all right?" When she looks confused, he continues. "You were calling my name, while you were sleeping. You seemed upset."

Mayuri tries to let go of the bone-deep chill of fear and longing left over from her dream, but she can't quite shake the fear. Okabe is still talking, trying to get her attention, but she can't quite seem to make out the words, and her vision is blurry. "Mayuri? Sweetheart, what's wrong?" Okabe asks, sounding desperate and confused.

She can't speak, but she can move enough to wrap her arms around Okabe right before she starts to sob in earnest. Okabe seems startled at first, but after a minute he hugs her back, rubbing her back and murmuring to her. It's been a long week, and the terror and loneliness finally come pouring out. She cries for what seems like hours, although it's probably only a few minutes. Finally, she manages to stop, and she lets go and wipes her face sheepishly. "Sorry," she whispers, her voice rough from crying.

"You don't have to be sorry for being upset," Okabe comments, nudging her over on the couch so he can sit next to her. She immediately leans to rest her head on his shoulder, and he throws an arm around her shoulders and hugs her close. It feels like being a kid again, except for Okabe is much taller now. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Mayuri smiles. She's the only one around, so he can drop the mad scientist act and be his genuine, caring self. "Not really," she responds. She feels that if she talks about them, her dreams will become reality.

Okabe sighs. "I'm assuming this has to do with the incident last week?" She nods against his shoulder, and he continues. "You don't have to worry. It's not going to happen again. Kurisu made sure of it. And if anything else happens, I'll let you know about it." He pauses for a minute. "I'm sorry, you know, if I scared you."

Finally, Mayuri feels that she can smile again. "You're forgiven!" she assures him.

Okabe extricates himself from the couch and stands up. "It's a little late for you to be heading home," he comments. "Do you want to spend the night over here? You still have your sleepover supplies, right?"

"Yep!" she replies happily. She gets an idea. "Can we make it a sleepover like when we were younger? With a blanket fort and movies? Neither of us have classes tomorrow."

Okabe grins at her. "That sounds like an excellent plan, 002. Let operation Nótt begin!"

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 **Okay, bit of a cheesy ending. But it's cute! Okabe calling Mayuri sweetheart will forever be adorable to me.**

 **Nott is Nordic for night, by the way.**


End file.
